Fred W. Breitbeil III

Fred W. Breitbeil III, 80, a professor emeritus in the chemistry department at DePaul University, died of cancer on Dec. 6, 2011.

Born in Cincinnati, Breitbeil served as a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps for three years. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1953 and a master’s degree in 1957—both in chemistry from Xavier University—before earning a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Cincinnati in 1961.

Breitbeil was a professor at DePaul for 35 years, teaching chemistry, serving as department chair, and conducting research in the field of computational chemistry.

After retiring to Orlando in 1996, he became an avid golfer and continued computational chemistry research and publishing at the University of Central Florida. He was an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1957.

He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Barbara; sons, Steve, Ken, and James; daughter, Teresa Mikeal; and four grandchildren.